Comparison of spectrophotometric and digital photometric analyses of chemical oxygen demand of slaughterhouse wastewater

Date

5-2011

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Jose Rene L. Micor

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Abstract

The visible spectrophotometric and digital photometric methods for determining chemical oxygen demand (COD) were compared using two random samples of untreated and treated (trickling filter) wastewater from a hog slaughterhouse, as well as glucose solutions with COD values of 350 and 750 ppm. Statistical analysis of the data showed that the COD obtained from spectrophotometry and digital photometry were comparable (at 95% confidence level) for all the sample solutions. The COD obtained using R plot, a* plot and L* plot were also comparable for all the solutions except for the untreated sample A. Tests for accuracy of the digital photometric method showed acceptable results; the error in the COD values of the glucose solutions ranged from 0.0038% to 6.8%. Test for repeatability of the method gave COD differences for the wastewater samples in the range of 0.0093% - 7.5%. The calculated limit of detection (LOD) for the R plot was 0.73 ppm, which was lower than the LOD for visible spectrophotometry (36 ppm). The COD of the two random samples were found to be significantly different based on sampling time, i.e. during slaughter time (12:00 am – 4:00 am) and six hours after end of slaughter. The treated and untreated samples collected on the early sampling gave higher COD values (331 - 347 ppm and 805 - 819.8 ppm, respectively) than the treated and untreated samples that were collected during late sampling (208.1 - 214 ppm and 457.8 - 585.1 ppm, respectively). The COD values of the treated samples were also found to be significantly different from those of the untreated samples. However, the wastewater treatment process in the slaughterhouse was found to be inefficient because relatively high COD values for the treated samples were obtained which do not meet the standard set by the Environmental Protecting Agency (EPA). The wastewater treatment process was able to reduce the COD of the untreated wastewater by only 54% to 60%.

Language

English

LC Subject

Sewage--Analysis, Spectrophotometry Photometry, Colorimetric analysis

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2011 C4 /M35

Document Type

Thesis

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